San Diego's shipyard owners and their suppliers will launch a 50,000-signature drive Thursday to place the newly adopted Barrio Logan community plan on next June's ballot.

They oppose the plan, five years in the making and approved Sept. 17 by the City Council, because businesses, needing special permits to expand, could be forced to relocate and make San Diego less competitive in Navy ship repairs.

"What it amounts to is the erosion of your industrial base," said Matt Carr, president of California Marine Cleaning, a business on Main Street with 150-250 employees. "It's a little bit here, a little bit there, and over time, the landscape changes and it doesn't come back."

The newly formed Protect Our Jobs coalition, organized by the Ship Repair Association, will begin its petition drive at R.E. Staite Engineering with industry representatives and dock workers on hand. Among the speakers will be Councilman Kevin Faulconer, one of the four council members, all Republicans, who voted against the plan, citing the potential impact on the industry.

Five Democrats, including Interim Mayor and Council President Todd Gloria and neighborhood representative David Alvarez, voted for the plan because they thought the industry could live with the changes and the community would be far better off under the new zoning rules adopted. Faulconer and Alvarez are both running for mayor.

Derry Pence, president of the repair association, said the industry is still open to compromise over the plan and implementing ordinances, which face one more set of council approvals Oct. 15.

"We're moving forward (with the referendum) under the impression that nobody wants to talk about this and we feel this is our only recourse to undo a grievous wrong," Pence said.

Alvarez' spokeswoman said the councilman stands ready to talk about a compromise but has not initiated any meetings with the industry and community. Faulconer's office said council members are considering options but nothing concrete has been advanced.

The referendum needs about 34,000 petition signatures from registered city voters within 30 days. Once the city clerk verifies the petitions, the plan would be placed before the council to either rescind or place on the next available city ballot, the June 3 primary. Consolidation with the November mayoral primary or expected February runoff is not possible because of election deadline requirements. A separate drive is planned against the ordinances and they would also be up for voter reconsideration at the same time.

If city voters repeal the plan, it could not be reconsidered for at least a year and might require a whole new round of planning efforts and environmental impact reports before it could return in a new form.

Rachael Ortiz, executive director of the Barrio Station social services agency in the neighborhood, said she always worried that the plan would be challenged by the industry because of the zoning and planning changes under consideration -- most particularly, the end to allowing any use on any block in the neighborhood. However, she said the current plan, adopted in 1978, has resulted in much improvement and the community could live with it a few more years.

"The whole community and supporters are totally against this referendum," she said. "People are disgusted with this. It's a real obvious land grab."

She was referring to the proposed five-block buffer zone bounded by Newton Avenue and Main, Evans and 28th streets. It currently contains a mix of uses and that in the future would be open to commercial but not residential or industrial use.

The current maritime industry users could remain but would need conditional use permits if they expand by more than 20 percent. The companies prefer no such permits, saying they could take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to secure.

Instead, the industry is willing to spend hundreds of thousands on the referendum drive and more in the ballot campaign to repeal the plan and its ordinances.

Campaign spokesman Chris Wahl said volunteer and paid signature gatherers will span out across the city starting this weekend, carrying copies of the council resolution and the 260-page community plan. The signatures, including 16,000 more than required, will be verified as they are submitted to make sure there is no shortfall when the 30-day period ends.